Need help making a pretty ''advanced'' silicone mask/suit!

[CruelCrucible]

Hey there! I am new to this site, been checking the forums for a while without an account because I needed some help making a silicone mask. I did not find any answers to the problems I have right now though, that's why I am making this post.

This will be a long post, I will make it easier for you by dividing this post into sections.


1. What I am going to make.

I am going to make a silicone ''mask'' (suit may be a better word to describe it) that will cover my whole upper body almost like a shirt. It will cover my legs half way down to my knees, with a zipper opening just underneath the butt going down the legs to be able to get into it, also it will cover my arms a bit past my elbows and my whole head.

2. How I am going to make it.

First I am going to make a full body mold of myself with plaster bandages, fill it up with plaster and then start sculpting on the life cast with wed-clay in the desired shape I want the mask to be in. I will not let it dry completely before making the mask mold, so I will just coat the sculpt with crystal clear to make the surface hard. Then I will make a plaster mold of the whole sculpture, starting with a beauty coat of thin layers of plaster and then strengthen it with bandages and thicker coats of plaster. Then remove the clay and use the life cast underneath as a core for the mold. I will make the arms removeable to be able to get the mask off it. Release it and gravity pour it with silicone, the silicone I am going to use is Ecoflex 00-30 OR 00-20, then I will cut it up where my zipper is going to be and ''glue'' it on with silicone and also sew it in. Then I will paint it with the same silicone using an airbrush and silicone pigments.

So far so good, I think?

4. The problems/questions.

1. I want this to look realistic, I wonder if you could make the lips go into the mouth? The masks you can buy doesn't go into the mouth, so if you reconstruct the body mold so that the mouth becomes hollow when you cast it, do you think it could work when you put it on? The silicone will go around the lips, on the inside of the mouth creating a ''second skin''?

2. Then we have the butt, how would you make it go into the buttcrack lol? haha would you create a ''wall'' of plaster that divide the buttcheeks inside the bodymold? This is something I just can't figure out...

3. Alsoo, is there a less heavy material to create a mold with? Plaster is heavy I will do it at home soo fiber glass isn't really an option because that is dangerous, also it is pretty expensive. maybe plaster will work though if you make a thinner mold? I mean, I just need it to last maximum 2 times!

4. how do you matten the silicone after painting? I have read baby powder works, but I don't know how to do it because the information is so hard to find. do you just brush it on the whole thing and then it will be matte? Do the surface you are going to matten need an uncured coat of silicone? Does baby poweder affect the color? I will make it black around the eyes like it has makeup on so I really need it to be very black and matte there!

What I am going to do is an visual kei artist mask, shirtless one, for cosplay, so the black around the eyes on the mask will make the edges blend in around my eyes if I have black makeup on. will put on false eye lashes around the eyeholes and then a wig and stuff on too. ^^

Hope someone can help me! o:

Edit; I was thinking about the matting part, I found out you can do it with translucent makeup powder, that got me thinking that I might be able to use black eyeshadow to matten the black around the eyes and making sure that part stays as black as possible?

 

[Yahiaoui]

Haven't had the chance to make my own silicone mask, but I have been reading up on the process and may be able to help.

1) When you are modifying/reducing your core it is recommended to open the mouth slightly so you can sculpt lips that grab at the actors lips (this helps with movement). Be sure not to hollow out the mouth because that can create an undercut that will lock your mold to the core.

2) Think like pants or a morph suit, you don't want that riding up where the sun don't shine so it would be best to sculpt over the rear of your core rather than into it. A silicone mask/ bodysuit creates the illusion of a "second skin" by clinging close to an actor, but when worn it would cover an actor like clothing rather than be a literal "second skin" (I hope that makes sense).

3) Not too sure what else an be used for this other than resins and fiberglass... Keep in mind when casting you also will need to drill bleeders into the mold so trapped air in the mold can escape. Doing this in stone could cause it to crack.

4) Baby powder or translucent powder is what is usually used. Fairly sure that after painting your mask and everything is cured, you just dust it down in powder and wash it off with water.

Again, this is information I have gathered in researchand previous knowledge but I hope it proves useful in some way!